The Doomsday Machine Revealed

It shows even better in this shot:

 

Yes, it was.

The Doomsday Machine is one of my favorite episodes. It also had my favorite version of the green wrap around captain's shirt. I liked it much better without the black trim around the "V" neck.

 

That is sloppy. And I agree they overdid the battle damage.

 

I do too. If anything, the only way to do a decent model of how this looked on screen in my opinion, is to find a master glass blower of Chihuly's level.

Oh, to have been around to do a three-D scan...

 

Looks like they just crunched the width of the letters in "Constellation" a little to make it fit.

 

The cool thing about the original planet killer's surface was that it has this bizarre translucent quality (really only appears in the shot where it turned), probably because paintwork on the transparent covering around the cone (probably it was a foil shape wrapped by a lighting gel, as Daren Dochterman hypothesizes), which gave it this really alien looking quality that the CGI model utterly lacks. The fact that the glow inside the CGI machine doesn't even look hot or bright further undermined the effect, as do the ineffective flame and blue-kool aid effects spewing out of its mouth.

 

While I like much of what CBS did, the DM itself suffered greatly from the CGI folks total ignorance of how competently to light a subject in a 3d program. While the original model was lit with multicolored lights which gave it that alien, crystalline look; the CGI DM was boring old 128/128/128 neutral gray. It looked like modeling clay!

Color me: disappointed.

M.

 

MGagen, love your avatar! Cmdr. Spock's secret recipe, 19 herbs and spices!

 

Maybe so. I thought the letters in "CONSTELLATION" didn't look like the correct block lettering with 45-degree corners (Amarillo USAF font?). But I could be wrong.

I've just been watching the remastered FX reel of "The Doomsday Machine" on YouTube. As limited as the original physical model work was, I'll take it any day over that horrible, cartoony-looking CGI stuff.

Yes, it's a cute avatar. But everyone knows Vulcans are vegetarians!

 

Interestingly enough, the original '67 AMT model of the Constellation used in the episode has a slightly different font (more of an Arial type) than the Enterprise's for the name plate. It stands to reason that they used the decal sheet from the model kit (simply rearranging the registry number) for all the other decals placed on the model, but they had to create the ship's name decal from scratch. It certainly came out looking OK, and of course they (Matt Jeffries?) did have the same font for both "U.S.S." and "CONSTELLATION."

Have a look-see:

 

While I don't know about the 1967 model, but I had one from the 70s and they had all the names of all 14 ships on the decal sheet. including the CONSTELLATION. There seemed to be the assumption that all the registery numbers began with 17.. not just any random four numbers. Though they had a lot of spare numbers on the sheet to play with.

 

ALL OF THIS. Is why I may someday buy TOS-R on bluray, but I will NEVER get rid of my TOS DVDs.

EDIT: Never Mind... I just did my homework, and found that the bluray gives you both versions.

That said, not to hijack the thread, but the bluray appears out of print. Any ideas on whether CBS will re-release?

 

^^ What do you mean "out of print?" You can go to Amazon and order them right now.

 

OK, however "bad" the CBS-D CGI model may be, it is certainly better than this poorly detailed, unpainted AMT kit that someone took a pair of pliers and a propane torch to.

 

Yeah, a little paint work would have gone a long way.

 

I prefer the original Doomsday effects.

 

That multi-ship decal didn't exist then.... they didn't even start thinking of the "official" names for the other Starships until the second production season.

Here's a scanned copy of the actual decal sheet that came with the AMT Enterprise model circa 1967, from which the filmed version of the Constellation was built:

I think it's just as bad for the opposite reason the original is lacking: while the original is under-detailed, the CGI version is a perfect example of unrestrained excess. 'If a little damage to the saucer is great, why not add more damage... and make it even more great!'

By OVER indulging, they ruined it for me. They would have done much better just to mimic the amount/type/locations of damage on the '67 model and make it look more 'realistic.'

How would you feel if you took your 10 year-old car into the shop to simply be re-painted, and when you went to pick it up, you found that they added horns from a steer on the hood, fins on the back and removed the roof in order to add Batmobile bubble windows--all because someone thought they would look cool? Well, that's how I feel when I see the CGI Constellation.

I've often wondered why they only painted the pylons for the warp nacelles (the four interior gold panels on each) and the gold deflector disc and left so many other sections unpainted: the lone surviving end cap on the port side nacelle, the impulse engine grills, etc. Done right, it would have made the model more convincing. Maybe they just ran out of time, like they always seemed to be doing during the first two years of the production....

For the 'overhead' shots of the ship, I also believe they photographed the model from too close a distance. Photographed a bit further away, and with some of the missing details discussed above included, the model would likely have looked much more realistic.

 

By the way, here's a great site detailing someone who built a close replica of the damaged AMT model in 1/1000 scale:

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=329619.

 

On my car, those would be welcome improvements.

But seriously, I respect your opinion. The original AMT Constellation model footage looked great back in 1975 on my 13" black and white TV, but the improvements in broadcast and video technologies over the years have revealed many of the shortcomings of the original f/x that I was blissfully unaware of at the time.

BTW, what ever happened to this model, does anyone know?

 

Thanks I'm thinking I've got myself a decal identical to one used in an episode only to find out the episode came first.
Its crazy IMO to think they used a merchandise toy as a prop in the same show.